Earth vs Humans Treatment

Earth vs Humans is an installation piece about natural disasters and the impact it has on humanity using four basic human busts, sculptured by hand using chicken wire and paper- mache. On each bust will be a projection of each natural disaster, volcano, earthquake, tsunami, and hurricane which will be made to animate slightly as if the images were a video of the real thing, by using Photoshop to create these images and animate them. As well using sound to accompany the projection to bring the reality of these events by using Adobe Audition/Pro Tools to create the bassy earth noises with the odd crack or bubbling sound effect to represent the sounds of the each disaster. I wish to improve on this project as last year’s piece did not consist of a sound piece and the projections did not move due to lack of time and poor organization.

Due to their basic human and genderless features the piece lets the audience imprint themselves on the art making it approachable to anyone. 

Sound Piece

For my multiple sound pieces, I want them to be all be talking and whispering at a dulled level so that, when you enter a the room it's all gumbled words and you can't make out what it's saying, until you get up close to each one of the sculptures only then will you be able to determine what each sculpture is saying. Maybe even have some emotions, the more urgent/servere ones, have even more layered speaking so it becomes over whelming like the emotions themselves (very powerful and demanding). Maybe some timed moments that in crease volume of one sculpture bring attention to a specific line of dialogue.

I then looked to the internet to see if I could find any Sound art that would inspire my idea further and help get my idea across. 

I really like this piece because of the use of lights and sound, in this the sound is very clear where as mine will be a lot quieter. Also my lights won't move but it will hopefully light up the room giving it a colourful atmosphere. 

Background noise examples (ambient noise):

These are some examples of sounds I would like to use replicate quietly in the background of sound piece just to give the room a general atmosphere (pleasant on the outside, ominous on the inside). 

Eerie

Ambient

Creepy

Bassy (favourite)

Speaking/whispering examples:

Here are some examples of what I would like the whispering and talking to sort of sound like when entering the room as well as when you approach each sculpture. 

Lisa Park

Using an EEG to read her brain waves she then programmed the live brain waves to great sound through speakers, which each had a plate of water on top, of which vibrated when the speaker beneath it started producing sound. I enjoy this piece due to how in the moment the piece is. You have to be there to see what happens and what effects the brain. It's also a clever combination of elements to show such a reaction instead of graphs or numbers. 

New Treatment

Adfectus is an installation exploring themes of anxiety and depression. It applies a simplistic approach using animal characteristics symbolisms and colour to present themes such as despair, hopelessness, dread, anxieties and emotions of a more stable state of mind. The animals, the bear, stag, bull, dog, swan, rabbit, panda, and the beast (combination of bear and stag) are placed around a large room, each painted with a colour symbolizing an emotion, happy, sad, angry, love, fear, depression, and anxiety, which the animal itself is representing also. Using the fact that we as humans automatically anthropomorphise animals, implying that they have the same emotions, thought process and language. I am using that factor to help present each animals corresponding emotion. Along with the sculptures will be sound pieces to heighten the emotion that the animal is representing. The sound pieces will alter from loud talking to whispering as it resembles cluttered thoughts in someone’s mind.

I want to create awareness for these problems as they do not get the recognition they deserve (they are more severe than people think) also through this piece I can reach out to others who might be suffering and can give them comfort, to tell them they are not alone and we know how you feel.

To create the sculptures I will use a study but flexible wire for the body structure and then apply paper mache around the structure to form its skin. Since the body will be constructed using metal strips rather than chicken wire, the missing joints the body will look real as if the animal was made of floating shapes. Once I have applied the skin, I will go over the newspaper in a matt paint and then paint a solid colour over the top of that. For lighting I plan to use one or two small LED lights in each sculpture to make it glow from the inside. Alongside each Sculpture will a small speaker playing each unique sound piece.

Further Development

After reflecting on my current project idea and realising that my move/decision to use and animator was a sign on me showing my lack of confidence in myself to animate. So i looked back to think of skills that I am confident with and want to challenge/push further. Looking back I remember how much I enjoyed making my Earth vs Humans project and thats the reason for me redoing it again this year. So I have come up with the idea to create animal sculptures in the theme/concept of this years project. Sadly I realised my mistake very late on in the preproduction process.
Thinking about the sculptures, I can use the same design as the current concept art but I have to add something to it. I need to think about the how I'm going to project/layout this new idea on a gallery floor, specially if I'm going to have around (possibly) 8 sculptures. I have been thinking about projecting words on to there bodies, words that describe the emotion that the animal represents (eg. Bull = anger so project other words relating to anger eg. Mad, livid, furious, etc)  

In addition to the sculptures I am thinking of having lights inside them to illuminate the colour of each animal plus a speaker inside or beside each one alternating between whispering and loud speaking the words that relate to that animal/emotion. 

Animating with Adobe Flash

Adobe Flash Animation

Using adobe flash may be an issue with myself as I am not that familiar with its tools. However, the layering after used in adobe flash, I feel is very similar to that of Photoshop which I have had plenty of experience with. 

As I do not feel hundred percent comfortable with using flash, I could however send the animator possible keyframes already drawn out for them, so they can then place them in order to create the motion of the animals leaving most of the work still down to me.

Useful lessons/learning tools

The Process of Animating

Step 1 - Storyboards:

The storyboard used to start the animation process, be it an adaptation of a script or an original idea. Storyboards are used as graphic organizers to pre-visualize work and pitch ideas to movie directors and other animators who want to work on the project. A storyboard is the best way of editing the story before its been animated. An animated film will of course be edited throughout the creation process, but scraping an entire animated sequence is costly in terms of both time and money, so editing at the storyboard stage is very important.

Step 2 - Audio Production:

After the story has been laid out with a storyboard it’s time to start recording the dialog. The writers and director will adapt their storyboard into a written script, complete with an outline of what each character is doing during each scene. After the script has been finalized, it is given to the voice actors for the film. Though it may not be apparent to the audience, voice actors play a huge role in fleshing out their characters’ on-screen personality. Often times, scripts are used mostly as loose guidelines for the actors. 

Step 3 - Visual Development:

During this phase artists strive to perfect the appeal of each character, taking into account any personality quirks or changes incorporated by the voice actor. Some characters receive massive makeovers, while others are sketched, inked and ready to be animated.

Today, visual development requires much less manual labor, but is no less an important step in the creation of an animated film. 

Step 4: Production:

Massive digital drawing tablets enable animators to draw their keyframes digitally and create the tweens automatically using 2D animation software. Characters and backgrounds are drawn separately using this method, then transposed on each other and saved as a video file, saving the studio both time and money over traditional methods and allowing for more flexibility during the last step of the animation process.

Step 5: Post Production:

The characters have been colored, animated, and set on their backgrounds. Each scene has been painstakingly composed and optimized. Every key is colored, every tween in place, and the animation is essentially complete. All that remains is to edit and polish the final product with special effects, sound effects and visuals to perfect the animator’s artistic vision. Post-production is usually when the entire team sits down to review their work and make whatever tweaks are necessary to call the film complete.

Projections

As I am doing another projection I looked further into projection art and interactive projection in galleries and such. And since I am projecting from behind the person I wanted to look for specific art works that use a similar format or silhouettes. Sadly a lot of projection art is interactive in different way compared to my idea. They are more technical and use programmes to create the new images. 

In Order to Control 

I enjoy the look of this piece because of the simplistic look and use of text for the imagery. The use of projection in both directions, on the floor and on the wall.

The Manual Input Workstation

I like the use of old technology mixed in with new to make the bizarre shapes created by hand movements. 

The Treachery of sancruary

This is one the main inspirations for the projection idea as it using the silhouettes and the projection is portraying something different similar to what I want to create. 

Interactive Video Projection Mapping on Sculptures

Similar to my Earth vs Humans installation piece, these projections are projected onto the sculptures but these are interactive with the public. You can change the colour or what the projection is doing.

Animal Concepts

The process of working on these concept pieces were pretty simple, to start with I would sketch a rough outline of what the animal looks like from the side, front, and back. Using references of the animal from the internet, once I have that rough reference sketch I drew another rough sketch, this time being the origami/geomectric style sketch. 

Once I have gone over in the rough sketch again I now have the rough origami outline. The last stage consists of me using a solid black pen tool to define the rough lines to a hard outline. 

Now I have the hard outline I can colour it in use the prechoosen colours, using the lighter shade for full colour and the darker colour for shading.

Here are my finish concepts of the animals/emotions. I drew them using Photoshop and a Wacom graphics tablet. 

It is possible that for my sculptures I won't be including this last animal due to time and resources, also I would struggle to keep it standing up right. There is also the fact of that in this new concept the idea of this sculpture doesn't really make sense.

Storyboards

Here are the storyboards of the animtions, these are quite brief just to get the look of the story across.

Finding a Composer

For the music side of my piece I was going to use a song that inspired this piece, however my tutor thought that it would be better to have a similar sounding piece with no lyrics tp put with my animation the only problem is I'd need a composer to do that and somehow direct them into creating a similar sounding score to what I was going to do originally.

Using a composer would help me create a instrumental piece or instrumental version of the song I was originally going to use.

Finding an Animator

Whilst thinking about my project in the lonely hours of the night I started panicking over the fact I'd have to animate the whole thing when I'm only good at doing still imagery, so I came up with the idea to get some help the animation course as I knew someone from there. 

I felt a little cheeky asking for something big so I kept the favour as simple and easy as possible. So I asked if it was possible for her to animate my animals roughly so I have the simple animation down and the frames for the animation. Then all I do the rest which will be define the lines and colour in each frame. Of course I won't need her help/work till next year so in the mean time I will work on storyboards to help her with animation and if needed I will stand beside her or be on call for when needs help.  

After asking a couple of people they were unfortunately unable to help me with the animation. 

Final Layout

This is the hoped layout for the what the final installation would be like. Also I'm hoping it to be along side my Earth vs Humans installation.

Merging of Animals and Emotions

Emotions:

Depression and anxiety = Off green
Depression = dark blue
Anxiety = orange
Happy = green
Sad = Light blue
Angry = red
Fear =  yellow
Love = pink

Animals:

Depression and anxiety = 

Depression = Grizzly Bear 

Anxiety = Stag

Happy = Dog

Sad = Panda

Angry = Bull

Fear =  Rabbit

Love = Swan